The present invention relates to a cartridge for the preparation of beverages and, in particular, to sealed cartridges which are formed from substantially air- and water-impermeable materials and which contain one or more ingredients for the preparation of beverages.
It has previously been proposed to seal beverage preparation ingredients in individual air-impermeable packages. For example, cartridges or capsules containing compacted ground coffee are known for use in certain coffee preparation machines which are generally termed “espresso” machines. In the production of coffee using these preparation machines the coffee cartridge is placed in a brewing chamber and hot water is passed though the cartridge at relatively high pressures, thereby extracting the aromatic coffee constituents from the ground coffee to produce the coffee beverage. Typically, such machines operate at a pressure of greater than 6×105 Pa. The preparation machines of the type described have to date been relatively expensive since components of the machine, such as the water pumps and seals, must be able to withstand the high pressures.
In WO01/58786 there is described a cartridge for the preparation of beverages which operates at a pressure generally in the range 0.7 to 2.0×105 Pa. However, the cartridge is designed for use in a beverage preparation machine for the commercial or industrial market and is relatively expensive. Hence, there remains a requirement for a cartridge for the preparation of beverages wherein the cartridges and beverage preparation machine are suitable, in particular, for the domestic market in terms of cost, performance and reliability.
In the cartridge of WO01/58786 a jet of the beverage is formed by passing the beverage through an aperture. It has proven difficult to accurately size and position apertures of this type. The accurate sizing and positioning of the aperture is very important as it is critical to the correct entrainment of air bubbles in the final beverage. Forming small apertures is especially difficult in injection moulded components where the aperture location is internal and surrounded by other portions of the component. The traditional method of forming an aperture is to use a mould pin sized to the required diameter of the aperture. However apertures formed by mould pins can normally only be directed towards an opening of the component (which opening allows the mould pin access to the component during moulding). In a beverage cartridge this results in the beverage being dispensed very quickly out of the opening at speeds up to 12-16 m/s since it is directed directly towards the outlet.